USA set to engage ‘ruthless streak’
LYON, France – When England won the She Believes Cup in March, finishing two points ahead of the United States, it marked a turning point.
England had reached the semifinals at both the 2015 World Cup and 2017 European championship, only to come up short each time. The She Believes Cup isn’t the same caliber, and England manager Phil Neville and his players won’t claim that it is.
But winning that tournament told England that it was talented enough to do it at a major tournament, as well. It gave the Three Lionesses the confidence that, if they played the U.S. women, as they will Tuesday in the World Cup semifinal, the result would no longer be a foregone conclusion.
“It’s about winning. And March helped us with that because we were the ones that stood on that platform and we were the ones that held up the trophy,” Neville said. “When you win something and you stand on that platform, it gives you the taste of wanting to do it again.
“And this time the prize is even bigger.”
Somewhere, France coach Corinne Diacre is smirking.
It’s great that England has that confidence. One of the most impressive things about this World Cup is seeing the fearlessness that so many teams have developed. They’re playing with a swagger and attitude that hasn’t been seen before, and they’re not backing down off the field, either.
Sweden and Spain engaged in trash talking before their games against the Americans. France pointed to its recent success against the U.S., including a 3-1 victory in January that was within seconds of being a shutout, as evidence the Americans were vulnerable.
And if the U.S. women had a dollar for every time they were described as or asked about being “arrogant” by the British news media, they really would be the multimillionaires The Daily Mail said they were.
“If we don’t get the right result, we will be disappointed. We will feel the disappointment and we’ll see that as a failure,” Neville said. “That’s not me being negative, that’s just our expectations and our belief and our confidence now. And our mindset is about winning.”
But there is a reason the U.S. women have won more World Cup titles (three) than any other country, and have claimed the Olympic gold medal four of the six times it’s been contested. It is not a fluke that they have reached the semifinals or better in all but one major international tournament, the only blemish being that quarterfinal loss to Sweden on penalty kicks at the Rio Olympics.
When it comes to big events, the Americans become an entirely different team.
“The U.S. in a tournament is nothing like the team you face in a friendly,” Diacre said after her team, which had taken so much confidence from that January win, fell 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Even Neville acknowledged the Americans have a quality that others still do not.
“I’ve got to say, America have got that ruthless streak of wanting to win,” Neville said.
The U.S. women won’t disagree. Nor will they apologize for it.
By whatever measure you want to use, they are, and have been historically, the best team in the world. They are proud of that tradition. Protective of it, too, considering the women who have worn the U.S. jersey before them. Akers, Hamm, Foudy, Lilly, Wambach.
But it also reflects what a dogfight it has been even to get here.
Simply because of its size and the legacy of Title IX, the U.S. has a massive talent pool, larger than any other country. As a result, there will be girls who are the best in their state who never make it into the U.S. developmental pipeline. There are women good enough to play in the NWSL who never even got an invite to a national team training camp.
Carli Lloyd is a two-time FIFA world player of the year and she’s coming off the bench, for goodness sake.
To end up as one of the 23 women representing the U.S., that’s a massive achievement in and of itself, and no one is going to squander it.
“The team rises to the occasion,” Christen Press said Monday. “We’ve done a great job at flipping pressure and making it inspiration, making it motivation. We know that when the stakes are the highest, when the games and the tournaments are the biggest, you have to find another level in yourself to win.”
Or as coach Jill Ellis said before the Americans played France, “Some teams will visit pressure, but I think we live there a lot.”
Winning a tournament in March isn’t the same as winning a tournament in July. And it’s one thing to say you believe you can beat the U.S. women, and quite another to actually do it.